Wednesday, October 30, 2013

From time to time I will post interesting items that I see on eBay that would be of interest to a LVC fan. These are not endorsements of the sellers, just merely my observations of interesting or rare items.

This is a poster from "The Squeeze", which I have seen with many different titles over the years, but never this one. A very interesting depiction on LVC (looking nothing like this in the actual movie!)

Up for auction is a video release Promo poster for the German video - Rip Off - Diamond Connection. It is in excellent condition, and measures approx 26 x 40. It is a 8/10. It is in excellent overall condition with minor wear at the edges from storage in a tube and factory folds as typically seen in promo posters from this era. It would matte or dry mount for framing beautifully.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Every Spaghetti Western fan knows what the above is; the ring where Col. Mortimer and Indio had their final duel in For a Few Dollars More. The ring which has been recently restored, resides in the town of Los Albaricoques.

While the ring itself is probably not original to what was used in the movie, it is an excellent recreation of what came before. From the right angle you can imagine being in the film!

While much of the surrounding town of Los Albaricoques has changed (the building Indio came out of is completely gone and has been replaced), this location is unspoiled, and remains a place that every LVC fan should visit!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Click to enlarge.

Yes, I did duel LVC while I was there. Below is a little Photoshop fun of mixing 1965 with modern day.

Above is a picture of a replica watch I bought for the trip. I took probably close to a hundred photos at the ring, many with me holding the pocket watch of course. In all my excitement I actually left the watch somewhere near the ring!

I drove back to Los Albaricoques the next morning to find it (who wouldn't want to go back to this location!). It was not where I thought I left it, so I figured it was gone. When I went back to the actual ring, there it was, sitting right by where LVC stood! Now not only do I have my watch back, but it has spent the night in the duel ring of Agua Caliente!

Next to Sad Hill from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, this is probably one of the most sacred places for a Sergio Leone fan! Not to be missed!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Sad news, Giuliano Gemma best known to all of us as Scott Mary in Day of Anger died recently on October 1. Article from the Hollywood Reporter below.

The screen veteran worked with directors from Luchino Visconti to Woody Allen, but was known for his roles in spaghetti westerns.

ROME -- Giuliano Gemma, a versatile Italian veteran of more than 100 acting roles ranging from Luchino Visconti's 1963 classic The Leopard (Il gattopardo), to spaghetti westerns, to Woody Allen's To Rome With Love, died late Tuesday in an auto accident near Rome.

The Rome-born Gemma was 75, and still active in the industry, including many television roles in recent years. He was set to play one of the key parts in Miguel Cruz Carretero's period romantic drama Deauville, which just entered pre-production. His last silver screen role was in last year's To Rome With Love, where he had a small role as a hotel manager.

To Italians, he was best known for his roles in spaghetti westerns, which emerged from his portrayal of one of Antonio Garibaldi's generals in The Leopard. On the set he met fellow actor Terence Hill, who introduced him to the then burgeoning spaghetti western genre. He made more than a dozen of the popular cowboy films including For a few Extra Dollars, The Return of Ringo, and Blood for a Silver Dollar, usually using the stage name Montgomery Wood.

In recent years he became popular on the film festival circuit, as the subject of tributes and recipient of honorary awards in Karlovy Vary, Italy's Globi d"Oro (the country's version of the Golden Globes), the Capri-Hollywood Film Fest, the Nastri d'Agento (Silver Ribbons) awards, and the Giffoni Film Festival.

Italian newspapers reported Gemma was involved in a car accident in Cerveteri, a small town about 25 miles northwest of Rome. Gemma was the only fatality in the accident in which a man and his young son remain in critical condition. Details of the accident were not immediately known.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

The Almeria region of Spain is very proud of their cinema background. Throughout the many towns in the area you will find markings for not only many Spaghetti Westerns but also other films such as Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Patton, or even Conan The Barbarian.

Entrance to Los Albaricoques﻿

The town with perhaps the richest cinematic history is Los Albaricoques, which was featured in Fistful of Dollars, Day of Anger, El Condor, and of course most prominently in For a Few Dollars More as the town of Agua Caliente.

Map of the town (note the street names!)﻿

This small town has fully embraced this cinema background, with signage throughout the town marking where important scenes from these films were shot. Additionally all the streets in the town have been renamed after Spaghetti Western personalities. Yes, there is a Lee Van Cleef street! In fact is it the longest street in the town!

Lee Van Cleef Street!

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The central tourist hub for the town is the Hostal Alba. Here you will find a place to stay as well as a great restaurant to grab a bite. The place is filled with western memorabilia, including a fantastic painting of the outcome of the For a Few Dollars More final duel. See below (click to enlarge)

The town itself has of course changed with the times in the last nearly 50 years. I would estimate the 80% of the buildings are not as they were in the films (either heavily modified or replaced), but that does not take away from the instant recognizability of the location or it's charm.

look carefully and you will see a cat in both photos! For a Few Dollars More

These streets were where most of Indio's gang were wiped out in For a Few Dollars More. In fact one of the buildings still exhibits the bullet holes from the shootout

Bullet Holes - For a Few Dollars More
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Fistful of Dollars and El Condor﻿﻿﻿

Below are some various pictures from around the town. Click to enlarge.

Various views of Clint's street below

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Other street signs dedicated to the Spaghetti west...﻿

A few images from LVC street!﻿

Almost unrecognizable, this is where Clint arrives into town and shoot the apples off the tree. The tavern where LVC shot from would have been on the right (about where the black car is)

This is where the apples were shot down ﻿﻿

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The most famous and recognizable location in the town is of course the ring where Indio and Mortimer had their final duel. That location will be the topic of it's own post next week!

Saturday, October 12, 2013

It's been a big week for LVC fans for blu-ray releases! Death Rides a Horse and Sabata are coming out on November 15! Both these releases are coming from the same company that put out The Big Gundown last year, so I am hoping for similar quality. Languages are German, English, and Italian.

Death Rides a Horse

Fifteen years after four bandits massacred his family, a young man (John Phillip Law) seeks revenge. Several of the men responsible now hold positions of power in the new West, but one of the bandits (Lee van Cleef) is due to be released from prison. Having been framed by the others all those years ago, he is ready to exact bloody reprisals, and so forms an unholy alliance with the vengeance-seeking man whose family he helped destroy. Original Italian title: Da uomo a uomo.

Special Features:

24-page illustrated booklet

Exclusive Making of Featurette

Photo gallery with press materials

Lee van Cleef Trailer Gallery

Original Trailer

Sabata

Gunslinger Sabata (Lee van Cleef) is not a popular figure in the town of Daugherty. When he discovers that the town's kingpins are behind a bank heist, he becomes a marked man, unable to trust even his own friends. Sabata is soon headed for a final shoot-out from which there can be but one survivor. Original Italian title: Ehi amico... c'è Sabata, hai chiuso!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Big news! It looks like this ports over all the supplements from the German disc. A 4-disc set in all (2 blu, 1 dvd, and the soundtrack CD).

Information from High Def Digest below-

The classic 1966 spaghetti western will ride onto Blu-ray in December.

In an early announcement to retailers, Grindhouse Releasing is preparing 'The Big Gundown' for Blu-ray on December 10.

Jonathan Corbett is a gunman so brave to have eliminated all the bandits of Texas. For this he is proposed for the candidacy to the Senate of the United States. In exchange he has only to support the construction of one railway line. Only after he accepts does he come to know that the Mexican Cuchillo has raped and killed a 12 year old girl. Corbett leaves on a long manhunt during which he gets to know his adversary better and discovers a variation on the crime for which the accused Cuchillo may not be as guilty as he first thought.

The release will be a Four Disc Deluxe Limited Edition Combo Pack (Two Blu-rays, one DVD and one bonus CD) individually numbered and limited to 3000 copies and will feature a spectacular new 2k digital restoration of the original uncensored english language version, Newly Expanded With Three Additional Scenes. Supplements will include: LA RESA DEI CONTI - The Complete, 110 Minute Director's Cut Presented In Italian With Optional English Bubtitles And Special Musical Subtitles; Bonus CD - THE BIG GUNDOWN - Original Soundtrack By Ennio Morricone; Compelling In-Depth Interviews With Director Sergio Sollima, Star Tomas Milian And Screenwriter Sergio Donati (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST); Audio Commentary By Western Film Experts C. Courtney Joyner And Henry C. Parke; Liner Notes By C. Courtney Joyner And Euro-Music Expert Gergely Hubai; Extensive Still Galleries, Trailers And TV Spots; And Other Surprises...

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

I have returned from a 2 week vacation in Spain and Italy, and have seen many things. While only 4 days were dedicated to Spaghetti Western locations, I have been to many places in that time. From the small towns near Almeria, to the deserts of Tabernas, to the great Sad Hill location itself near Burgos. I have taken tons of photos, and will have most likely close to 20 posts on various locations!

Imagine standing where LVC stood in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and watching the duel there! Here is a tease on what is to come....

I will try to do one location posting a week, in addition to a regular post. I have over a thousand photos to sort through. I plan on doing side by side comparisons as well as other views of the locations, and information on what they actually are used for now (or in some cases what they were used for originally hundreds of years ago!).